"Despite numerous efforts by fired OSU Band Director Jon Waters to resolve his issues with Ohio State University without legal proceedings, today a lawsuit will be filed against individuals and the university," his lawyer said in a statement.

Waters was fired July 24 after a two-month university investigation concluded that he knew about but failed to stop a "sexualized culture" within the celebrated band, including students marching partially clad, playing groping games and bestowing sometimes explicit nicknames.

Waters had led the band since 2012 and created halftime shows that he drew on an iPad and were considered revolutionary.

Videos of the morphing and dancing images the band creates on the field have drawn hundreds of thousands of hits on YouTube and landed it in an Apple commercial.

Alumni of what's known to fans as The Best Damn Band in the Land have rallied around Waters and challenged the university's findings.

Ohio State President Michael Drake, who came on board only weeks before the firing, has stood by the firing, as has the university's board of director and its alumni association, headed by football great Archie Griffin.

Drake also has enlisted a former Ohio attorney general, Republican Betty Montgomery, in the case. She is spearheading an independent review of the band culture in order to make recommendations for policy improvements. The review does not include revisiting the firing.